Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, seeking to remove 27 members of the State House of Assembly loyal to Nyesom Wike, Minister of FCT.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Governor based his ground based on the alleged defection of the 27 lawmakers from People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The presiding judge, Justice Musa Uwani Aba-Aji dismissed the suit following withdrawal of the appeal by Fubara through his legal counsel.
Governor Fubara, in the notice of withdrawal of the appeal, simply informed the three-man panel of Justices of the Supreme Court that events had overtaken his suit.
The request for the withdrawal of the contentious suit was not opposed by Rivers State House of Assembly and its factional Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, who was represented by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN,
Olanipekun, SAN, consequently, demanded outright dismissal of the suit on the premise that parties had filed and exchanged their brief arguments and thus joined issues with each other.
The request for the withdrawal of the contentious suit was not opposed by Rivers State House of Assembly and its factional Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, who was represented by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN,
Olanipekun, SAN, consequently, demanded outright dismissal of the suit on the premise that parties had filed and exchanged their brief arguments and thus joined issues with each other.
He argued that the proper order to be made in the circumstances was the dismissal of the case, which the court agreed with.
The Court then dismissed the suit and awarded N4m against Fubara to be paid to the House of Assembly and Amaewhule.
Following the ruling, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Ken Njemanze said that the coast has been finally cleared for the 27 lawmakers to take over the House of Assembly fully.
